An Arizona employee may take leave if there are less than three consecutive hours between the opening of the polls and the beginning of employee's shift or between the end of employee's shift and the closing of the polls. Time off may be taken to provide three consecutive total hours. Employer may specify when leave may be taken.

Employees may take leave to vote if, either

there are less than three consecutive hours between the opening of the polls and the beginning of the employee's regular workshift or

between the end of his/her regular workshift and the closing of the poll.

How does this work?

If an employee has less than three consecutive hours to vote, the employee may take leave for the length of time (at the beginning or end of the employee's shift) that, when added to the time difference between workshift hours and the opening or closing of the polls, will provide a total of three consecutive hours.

An employee shall not be penalized (or suffer any deduction in the employee's usual salary or wages) for taking time off to vote.

What must -- or should -- the employee do?

The employee taking time off to vote must request time off from the employer prior to election day.

The employer may specify the hours during which employees may take leave.

dennis l. hall

Dennis graduated from Indiana and Columbia (75,
77, and 79) in economics, and has taught at several colleges. With a
Minnesota law degree (87), Dennis likes all areas of the law that cross
with economics: antitrust, unfair competition, trade practices,
copyright, trademark, damages.